Forget swing states. Here's how the generations flipped on Election Day.

• Gen X and younger voters shifted right in recent polls, favoring Trump more than they did in 2020.
• Economic concerns and social media strategies influenced Gen Z's political shift.
• Meanwhile, Gen Xers already disapproved of President Joe Biden the most.

The 2024 election saw some big shifts in how the generations voted, early exit poll data suggested.

Democrats lost a lot of ground with Gen Z, while Republicans won Gen X by a much wider margin than in 2020. Meanwhile, millennials had a much smaller rightward shift, and boomers were actually more likely to vote Democratic than four years ago.

The results challenge some long-held stereotypes about generations' political positions. For example, the presumed progressive Gen Zers showed more conservative leanings this election than the last, and aging boomers shirked the notion that they're growing more conservative with age.

To be sure, early exit poll data has a wide margin of error. As more votes are counted in the coming days and months, more precise data on the shape of the 2024 electorate will be released.

The youngest voters and those entering middle age tacked hard to the right. Gen X — which slightly favored president-elect Donald Trump with a one-point margin in 2020 — shifted 9 points toward Trump this cycle. Gen Z favored Vice President Kamala Harris by 11 points, compared to 24 points for President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, millennials and their boomer parents were less likely to move toward Trump. Millennials favored Harris by one point, a five-point shift down from Biden's six-point margin in 2020. Boomers went from supporting Trump by five points in 2020 to a flat tie between the two candidates this year, and were the only age group that voted more Democratic.

Gen Z's big shift to the right wasn't entirely unexpected. Teens were twice as likely to identify as more conservative than their parents compared to millennials 20 years ago, per a Gallup and Walton Family Foundation study conducted last fall.

The Trump campaign put a lot of focus on this age group. Andrew Heyward, a former president of CBS News, told The New York Times that Trump has become a "master of evolving media" for partnering with online influencers and personalities. Trump frequently appeared on podcasts, streams, and TikToks consumed predominantly by Gen Z and millennial audiences, including The Joe Rogan Experience.

That strategy may have convinced younger voters that the GOP gets them better than the Democrats. "People don't really vote for what they want, they vote for who they are," Jason Brennan, a professor of strategy, public policy, and economics at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, told BI.

"I think a lot of young men look at the messaging of Democrats and are turned off by it," Brennan said, and it could at least partially explain the generational shifts.

Gen Z's Gen X-er parents — or at least some of them — are also tilting right, as the forgotten middle child of generations dramatically shifted toward Trump.

Gen X already disapproved of Biden the most among generations, per late 2023 polling from NPR, PBS NewsHour, and Marist.

Their role stuck between caring for children and aging parents has them in an especially precarious economic spot. They're the generation most likely to say that they don't feel financially secure. Many are concerned about saving for retirement, while some continue to be stressed out about homebuying. Some long for the success of their boomer and silent generation parents, Amy Walter, a nonpartisan political analyst with The Cook Political Report, told NPR.

Meanwhile, boomers are a bit more of a puzzle, according to Brennan. Their shift might come down to a dark demographic reality— male boomers are more likely to die earlier than their female counterparts, and women tend to be more likely to vote Democratic than men. But, more broadly, the results could also be chalked to a lack of enthusiasm.

"What it takes to win is you have to get your base to come out, and then you have to get the swing voters to shift towards you," Brennan said.

Are you a Gen Z who shifted right or a boomer who shifted left? Contact these reporters at jkaplan@businessinsider.com and nsheidlower@businessinsider.com.